Kudo’s to you for wanting to support indie authors! We need more of them and they can work their way to be more traditionally published if that is their goal. However, what can you do to best support indie authors? There are many ways to do so, let’s get into it.
Buy and Read their Books!
Duh… right?
This is basically step one to the process,and honestly the easiest step. Buying an author’s book sounds like one of the only ways to support them, but there’s some tricks here.
When buying their book, the best way is to buy from them directly (their own website or at a booth, etc) unless stated otherwise. This is how indie authors get the most profit out of their book than buying through big seller sites (UNLESS stated otherwise by the author).
Reading may be the next step here. I have a few interviews I made for indie authors (THAT I PROMISE I’M GETTING AROUND TO, I’M SO SORRY) but have yet to publish because I haven’t had time to read their works. Now we have a solid foundation for the next few ways to support growing authors.
Talk About Indie Authors
Now to give a solid opinion on a book. You can write reviews on goodreads, their websites, or on social media.
Do not make this mistake: You can be honest, you should not be rude. Remember, indie authors are trying to make it. It is okay to say a book isn’t for you or the writing style might be a little rough because most indie authors write AND edit their books. It is not nice or right to criticize a book in a rude way. It is uncalled for.
Social media is a great way to do this. I have a tiktok account where I like to be brief about my book opinions, sometimes they are controversial, but I do not put an author on blast because I did not like their work. I don’t like mint tea, but you might.
Book clubs
Exposure can be everything, and book clubs are an awesome way to introduce indie authors to other people and get more opinions. A lot of the time, I find indie authors usually make short(er) books, so they are easy to read through in comparison to others.
Once again, it should be a safe space for people to criticize a book, but not to be outright rude.
Word of mouth is a great way to introduce to friends what a book is about, especially with other people who might have similar tastes in books. “Hey, I came across this author, and their book sounds like something up our alley, and it’s on kindle unlimited. Cool right?”
Words of Encouragement and Engagement
It’s not easy creating a piece of work and throwing it out to the world, asking people to buy and support it.
Engage on an indie author’s social media platform, give them thoughtful feedback, and tell them they are doing great. Be a little cheerleader! If you were in their shoes (or maybe I am talking about you), there is nothing better than getting a thumbs up from people.
“I liked your book! I am looking forward to the next one, please keep going!” can literally change anyone’s mood for the better. Spreading kindness already is so important in the world, the small ones deserve just as much praise as the big guys in the world!
How else would you support indie authors? I apologize to authors I have interviewed and have yet to publish. Especially those from Dragonsteel, I will read and get those out. My husband has read some and had great things to say, so I look forward to reading them!
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